'So we will be dealing with this unknown assassin and Vindy, huh?' Rydel said, looking to the two others standing next to him. Alrith's standing especially close to him, and her face looked a little red as this is indeed her first battle experience. Despite all of her nervousness, she is more than ready from the powers that she has displayed in her training.
She has repeatedly asked to see how Dolon fought with Lightning Rod, which are the same artifact as before just two iterations prior. Initially, Rydel and Ol were quite hesitant regarding whether to show her, hoping to not to put the pressure of filling in the shoes of the Aquarian fighter on her. Though she made it her point that all she had in the Institute is competition, and seeing what is expected of her will only make her perform better.
Understandably, Alrith isn't going to be capable of performing most of the feats that Dolon was able to do, but the same can be said the other way around. Fundamentally, the styles of combat are drastically different between the two of them. Dolon was one of the most skilled fighters coming out of the Aquarian race, while Alrith fights a lot more like Rydel funnily enough, utilizing the arrays of tools and unique weaponry that she personally designed through a much more technical rather than physical route.
'Yes, and I am instructed to protect you two.' Sadie Allen replied, 'despite our history.'
'Yeah.....Sorry for buzzing you.' Rydel lets out an earnest chuckle, 'but that won't happen again.'
'How so?' Sadie Allen hasn't quite realized how Rydel went from having two artifacts back then to now, but just as he was about to explain, two figures appeared in front of them. A human and a rocky appeared not too far from where they are on the moon.
'Here they come.' Rydel said, 'let's see what they have got first, especially the assassin.'
'Agreed.' Sadie said, bringing his two hands together in front of him before activating Shield internally. However, he haven't projected anything yet.
The human and the Rocky looked disoriented to start with, but soon, they managed to get a bearing of what has happened. Of course, all of this were predicted by Hong Fu prior.
'You ready?' The human turned towards the Rocky and asked. The Rocky nodded back, and then slammed her hand onto the ground as a shock wave came out from her fingertips. The layer of rocks on the moon were stirred up before it started travelling towards the three from the coalition.
'Hup!' Sadie Allen, said, pushing both palms forward and projecting a shield in front of the three before the wave of ground materials crashes and breaks in front it, sending rocks and dusts flying off in all directions. The clash was silent and visually spectacular, but there is no time to appreciate the views, as a second wave of attacks came directly from underneath the feets of the three, with the ground bulding up rapidly before bursting out as if a ground monster has been awakened.
'I got it!' Rydel said quickly, activating the glove instantly and feeling the bulding ground all around before warping it all away. With the chunks of materials in his hands, the three all jumped outwards and avoided the gaping hole left as a result. Instead of materials being created from nothing, it was rather the ground underneath their feet was displaced. Vertical displacement of materials...so it seems Wavestriker have discovered some new modes of attacks over the past few months.
Looking over at the Rockies and the human who are also eyeing them up, Rydel tossed the chunks of materials that he held in his hand towards them. He didn't want to crush them immediately, so there wasn't a lot of force in the throw. The chunks of moon appeared in mid air as the space are bent and twisted before flying towards the two of them.
Seeing this, the human reached her hand out towards Vindy the wavestriker and warped the two of them laterally and avoided this attack. Their image was stretched thin before reforming on the other side of the portal.
This is a distinct sign of Jozzor's artifact! Both Sadie Allen and Rydel immediately noticed this, as the image of the human female flickered off as the holographic projector is turned off, revealing a short stout Rocky in her place.
'Isn't that...Jozzor?' Alrith asked, and Rydel nodded, as both his and Sadie's body became tensed up.
'Sadie, can he portal through your shields?' Rydel asked underneath his breath.
'If you can.....' Sadie said, 'then there is no reason why he can't.'
'I see.' Rydel said, preparing himself for the attack.
They came here preparing to counter both the Assassin and Vindy with Sadie Allen's artifact, but it just happens that the simple swap performed by Hong Fu renders him completely useless.
'Don't underestimate me.' Sadie Allen said, as they stared down against the two rockies in front of them.
'What do you think?' Jozzor asked, looking towards Vindy, 'can you take them down?'
'if that's your wish...then it is done.....' Vindy said obediently, and Jozzor lets out a little sigh. The influence of Anozee's mind altering is certainly making Brakagi's life a lot easier when it comes to dealing with the rogue artifact users. However, it also makes life a lot less interesting.
'Let's take them out quickly before going to pick up the others and meet up with Master.' Jozzor said, lunging down, grapping onto Vindy and started warping the two of them away.
'Here they come!' Rydel said, grabbing onto the pair of battle maces and prepared for Jozzor's appearance. However, before the two Rockies reappeared, Sadie Allen took a step forward and crated a big shield around the three of them.
The views of the moon beyond the shield are then twisted as a hole is tore through the fabric of space before Jozzor and Vindy appeared directly into the bubble of shield. Sadie Allen immediately cancelled out the first layer of the shield and reformed another before expanding outwards rapidly as the surface crashed into the face of both Jozzor and Vindy, sending the two of them flying.
'Just because they can bypass the shield doesn't mean they can get through!' Sadie Allen said, 'now, go take them down!'
Rydel nodded, as he and Alrith now charged forward before both lept into the air. Then, Sadie Allen created a bubble of shield immediately underneath their feet before giving the two of them a gentle shove towards the flying Rockies.
Rydel had his battle mace in hand, and Alrith with her lightning knifes that cracks electricity all throughout her arms and body. And they flew towards the two rockies at blinding speed!
As they closed in the distance between them, Alrith reached out with her hand and sent out bursts of lightning towards the two Rockies. However, at the exact same moment as Alrith's attack, the two disappeared suddenly as a faint stretched version of their images were left behind for a split second before completely dissipating.
'SHIT!' Rydel cursed and twisted around in mid air and looked back towards Sadie Allen.
The bearers have identified Jozzor as being the priority target for them due to his mobility of being able to portal around the battles and bring others in and out of combat. That's the entire reason of them setting up the trap for him with Valerie's Lock Down and Zel's Pocket Domain. However, Brakagi's forces have also quickly identified the key targets that can single-handedly alter the trajectory of fights thanks to what Hong Fu and Vindy already knows from their previous encounters.
And the one they are facing right now is one of them.
'That's it for you, human.' Jozzor said, as he brought Vindy slamming down onto the back of Sadie Allen in this special attack.
'You are not the first one trying to take me down from behind me!' Sadie said without turning around, then he slammed both hands down towards the side in a high horse stance with a loud roar. A burst of energy pulsed outwards from his body as a new shield is created around his body.
'Now!' Jozzor said, and Vindy acknowledged with a low grunt as she slammed her hand into the shield.
'Artifact Avatar mode, ON!' The two of them shouted out at the same exact time, and Sadie turned into a being of bright light as the shield he created showed a glow of semi-transparent orange as it clashed with Vindy's fingers. Waves pulsed outwards across all of the frequency spectrums, and Vindy felt for the responses of the outer layer of the shields before nailing down its natural frequency.
Once that is found, it is all over.
There it is! Without all of her heart and her will, she created waves and vibrations at the exact natural frequency of Sadie's shields, and a wave travelled outwards from her finger tips to all around them. The bubble of shield shook in response to Vindy's input, and the ground around them cracked before it started to sink, stirring dusts all around it.
However, the shield didn't break, but rather it started to move side to side with Vindy's continuous input, and Sadie Allen along with it. He held on from within the surface in his stance as he continued to channel his energy into the intensity of the shields and refused to let the frantic vibration and quaking all around him break it down.
As he increased the strength of the shield ever further, he began to slowly push out Vindy and Jozzor further and further away, though the increase in durability of the shields have clearly limited both its size and how quickly Sadie can move it about.
The vibrations pierced directly through the surfaces of the shield, though there is no sign of it breaking. However, Sadie is feeling every single ounce of that vibration as the bubble continues to shift back and forth.
'GET BACK!' He commanded, before exerting himself and sending out a pulse of energy, pushing the golden shield outwards as the bubble rapidly expands, shoving Vindy back and sending her flying. However, in the mean time, the bubble along with Sadie Allen is also pushed back into the ground as the earth cracked and an unaesthetic crater formed right from underneath his feet.
Jozzor's images flashes twice, and Sadie found him facing the two Rockies face to face. Before he had any times to react, Vindy tapped him on the knee, senses his natural frequency and put him down with a single buzz.
'Shit!' Rydel cursed, reaching out with the glove and grabbing onto Sadie's body. Despite the fact that the two of them have fought before, and that he is one of Absolute Being, they are still allies on this battlefield. Sadie was knocked out cold for the third or fourth time in a fight by now, and he is certainly the least lucky out of all of the users around. But at least he is still save, and it looked as if they simply wanted to take the users out.
This makes sense, as an artifact without a skilled user is useless at best, and dangerous at worst.
Dropping Sadie softly on the ground, Rydel and Alrith stood tall and looked towards the two Rockies in front of them. Right now, both Sadie Allen and Vindy have activated their artifact avatar mode, and Jozzor have showed his speed in not only his outstanding mobility, but also his artifact activation speed. Alrith may not have been able to realize what has happened quite literally in the blink of an eye, but Rydel clearly saw what happened.
Jozzor first warped himself away from the surface of the shield towards Vindy who was sent flying away, then he warped himself and her together through the expanding bubble before taking Sadie Allen out all together.
It is true that Jozzor is the most troublesome out of all of the artifact users from Brakagi's group, but his biggest weakness are that he needs a true means of attack, and right now that means is Vindy.
If Rydel and Alrith can either take out Vindy individually, or interrupt the interactions between the two, victory will be in their hands.
'I will warp Vindy into the glove.' Rydel said, 'that will force Jozzor's hand, get ready to counter attack with our one two punch.'
Alrith nodded, looking at the man that she has fought alongside on Poseidon 5, and she prepared herself.
However, Jozzor and Vindy took the initiative once agian, and they disappeared from where he was standing in an instant. Rydel spun around only to see Vindy appearing five meters from behind him with her fingers already on the ground. Then, the ground underneath Rydel shot up and sent him flying!
'Alrith!' Rydel yelled, as she remained where she was, with Jozzor descending on her and chopping down on her head with his palm. That attack was counted by Alrith's lightning knife, and the reinforced gloves clashes brightly against the surface of her artifact, sending sparks flying.
Alrith's eyes glowed as electricity bursted out from her knife and crawled towards Jozzor before burning his battle suits around the shoulders and soldering it tightly against Jozzor's fur by melting the surfaces.
Jozzor leapt back, only to see Vindy now charging forward with a glowing hand ready to take Alrith out by hitting her along the torso. However, just before the attack have landed, Rydel reached out with his hand and summoned Alrith into the pocket domain as Vindy swiped her hand.
The soft outlines of Alrith are clearly felt along his fingertips, and he gently released her next to him.
'You okay?' Alrith asked upon immediately exiting from the bubble of space created by Rydel's glove. He lets out a chuckle and slapped her on the shoulder.
'Speak for yourself.'
'I am FINE!' Alrith said stubbornly and swung her fist at Rydel, 'I even landed a hit on Jozzor!'
'I saw that.; Rydel said, 'your fire power is unmatched here. I am going to rely on you once again...'
Alrith caught Rydel's earnest glare, and her heart skipped a beat.
'Yeah.....whatever. But I have a plan, if yours doesn't work.'
'Are you hurt?' Vindy asked after creating a small vertical wall with her ability to generate a standing wave made out of the ground material and separating the two groups. Jozzor looked like he took a nasty hit, but his expressions never show much except for pride and anger.
'This is not going to be easy.' Jozzor said, moving his arms around as he got used to the new sensation when it comes to movements. The healing process have already begun, though he doubt his body can handle too many of those attacks. However, that amount of damage is as expected, coming from artifacts directly.
Smoke of dusts and dirt rose up from the other side of the rock wall, and a dragon made out of lightning tore through it like cardboard and sent the chunks of rocks flying outwards. On the other side of the fall, Alrith charged headfirst towards Vindy and Jozzor with Rydel standing far back.
'Rydel Daera is planning something!' Jozzor said before warping herself towards the approaching Alrith, 'be on guard.'
As Jozzor disappearred from the surface of the moon, Alrith created a bubble of electricity tightly around her body just in case Jozzor wanted to attack from her blind spots. However, that attack never came.
Instead, Jozzor slung shot himself directly in front of Rydel, and they clashed their weapons the moment Jozzor's images became solidified. The artifact Sling Shot wrapped around Jozzor's elbows and knees glowed bright from his usage, and the shear force that he exerts was able to push Rydel back just ever so slightly. The impact happened away from the head of the mace that Rydel was holding onto, and the spring shock wave mechanism remained off.
Then, Jozzor pointed the electrically charged blades in his hand at Rydel and said through the common channel, 'You are another user of spatial manipulation artifact, aren't you?'
'There are certainly quite a lot of them around.' Rydel said, as Jozzor disappeared once again. Despite his superior speeds in cross vast distances, Jozzor isn't slippery at all. He warped back and forth, disappearing and reappearing at various points around Rydel, but he has been able to catch all of the attempts out just by being highly alert of his surroundings.
However, when he dedicated his full attention towards not getting caught out by Jozzor, he cannot look over to see what Vindy and Alrith is doing. However, she promised to do her best here, and all Rydel can do is to trust her right now. An explosion came off from the distance as the ground shakes. Jozzor appeared behind Rydel and prepared to send the blade into his body when he blocked it from behind.
The head of the mace clashed with the body of the blade, and the shock wave sent the blade flying away.
No...Jozzor actively lets it go, and the momentum carried on by the mace left Rydel with an opening that he never should have allowed. One of the oldest trick in the book, and Rydel fell for it.
Cursing his lack of speed now more than ever, he felt the Rocky's hand touching against his back, and the scenaries around him all began to twist and warp, as the surface of the moon appeared to have circled upwards with the sky above being a dark circle decorated with many smaller moons. Then, the light he saw are stretched and redshifted all around him.
Before he realized it, they appeared on another moon, with the patterns of clouds of the gas giant now looking unfamiliar.
'Just stay here.' Jozzor said, letting Rydel go with his hands before kicking him in the back. Then, he activated Sling Shot again and created a portal back onto the moon they were fighting on.
However, his connections was cut off, and the other end of the portal was...nothing. No, instead, it was a rock hard boundary that he cannot pass through!
Jozzor's ability to warp have been negated somehow!
'So this is how it will always work.' Rydel said, and Jozzor spun around angrily only to see his glowing left hand and a proud laughter on his face, 'you are hard to catch, but once caught...you are never going anywhere!'